ONE YEAR WITH AN ENGLISH TEACHER

Day 107, Friday, February 29

Lily was a star in class today. She had done the reading assignment with great care, and she was obviously proud of that fact. She raised her hand often during class, and when I said it appeared that she had read the story carefully, she smiled and nodded. "Yes," she said, "I did. I really liked this story, and so I tried to take very good notes." She smiled and blushed, and then we went on with the discussion. I was glad to give her the chance to shine. She often seems reserved and detached during class, and I have had the feeling lately that her confidence in English is on the ebb these days. It was good to see her take wing again and be the fine student of reading that she actually is.

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Jaimie, Tommy Johnson, and Jane were wonderful English performers today. Just when I was thinking that the students were floundering and foundering in our study of Shakespeare, these three rose up today like sophisticated students of literature. Jaimie explained for the class the metaphor of 'the traveling lamp', Tommy expounded on another puzzling metaphor, and Jane made an excellent point about the owl, saying that it seemed to symbolize Lady Macbeth. I was reassured and delighted by these intelligent comments.